Aston Villa and Brazil star Philippe Coutinho will play no part in the upcoming World Cup as a result of a fresh injury, according to reports.
The subject of absentees for world football’s biggest international showpiece has of course dominated the headlines over the course of the last couple of weeks.
This comes as high-profile players previously expected to play starring roles in Qatar continue to fall victim to the hectic nature of the recent fixture list.
To this point, the likes of Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Ben Chilwell, Timo Werner and Diogo Jota have been ruled out of the tournament, whilst a host more are viewed as doubts as things stand.
And now, as alluded to above, yet another name has been added to the ever-lengthening list of absentees.
As per a whole host of sources late on Sunday, Philippe Coutinho will not be at the disposal of Brazil boss Tite this winter.
Despite his altogether hit-and-miss recent form, the former Liverpool was understood to have remained in with a shot at clinching a place in the Selecao’s squad set for Qatar.
However, owing to a quad injury, such hopes are now dead in the water.
Instead, Coutinho is expected to spend somewhere in the region of the next 7-10 weeks on the sidelines.
Aston Villa 3-1 Manchester United: Match report, player ratings, fan reaction & more
Manchester City transfer news: €120m bid readied for January, free centre-back eyed & more
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/xlmedia/d6ef9264-396f-45e7-b4b1-627d5535badb.png)
